Attorney General and Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton expressed his support for in-vitro fertilization (IVF), a stance that differs from the Texas GOP’s platform. Paxton stated that he is a strong supporter of IVF and pro-family policies that help Americans experience the wonders of parenthood.

IVF and the Texas GOP Platform

The Texas GOP platform, adopted at its Houston convention, calls on lawmakers to protect fetal life from destructive practices, such as IVF and commercial surrogacy. However, Paxton’s campaign said he would work to safeguard IVF if elected to the U.S. Senate. Paxton supports the IVF Protection Act, a bill that aims to bar Medicaid funding for any state that bans IVF.

Paxton’s support for IVF puts him in the same camp as President Donald Trump, but on the opposite side of the issue as the Republican Party of Texas. The state party’s platform states that life begins at fertilization, and that IVF is therefore destructive. The Texas GOP wants mandatory reporting on embryo creation, storage, and disposition, and wants legislators to instead promote ethical alternatives, including holistic infertility treatments.

A wing of the religious right opposes IVF on moral grounds, as the procedure often involves the creation of numerous embryos, some of which end up discarded if they are not healthy or viable. Some religious conservatives see the destruction of embryos as abortion and think it should be banned. Others see procedures that create embryos outside of the mother’s body as the commodification of human life.

Original reporting: Texas Tribune (HLL/CB) — read the source article.